TheSetMed

Please stop recommending this as a solution, it's not.  You have to pay $40 per month if you want to give members free access.  You're not even trying at this point and just repeating worthless tips.  Read the posts from the users on these forums.  We need a method of having a page with private access that only select members can access, each with a unique password so we have the choice to remove members without having to reset the master password for everyone, and not charge fees for access.  Is it that complicated to understand, or better yet, is it that difficult to implement after all of these years?  Or does Squarespace simply not care???
 

Same. We want to grow our new business platform on Members Area but giving up as there's no roadmap or signs of improvement. We want to see manual approval option, zapier triggers and a better community function. 

I second that. I made the mistake of creating my member area before checking on this. Now I have a member area that anyone can become a member of. I need some control over who can and cannot become a member as my payment structure is done outside of the SQSP environment. I don't think directly linking to the member area via email all the time is an acceptable option. 

i'm wondering -- did Squarespace not beta test the Members Area before they released it in the wild? it's obviously lacking a number of basic features one would expect from a membership area. 

Same here. Quite disappointed in limited features of Members area so far. They need to up their game to stay competitive.

You would think that an option for approvals by the administrator would have been a basic option to include. I don't understand why SquareSpace has not included this?

I desperately need these features in place so anyone cannot sign up and get instant access to the hidden content. 

This cannot be removed! You cannot style the popup windows for login and sign-up, or the account panel where members manage their account.
As you'll have seen, this means that anyone can join and access the member content without being approved. I raised this - and other Member Area limitations - with Squarespace but there's no news on when or if this will change. If you're interested, you can view my list of Member Area limitations here. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t possible with Member Areas because no ‘manual approval’ feature exists. Anyone will be able to sign-up by visiting the site and using a specific url slug - no matter what you do!
I’ve posted about this a number of times because it makes this feature totally unsuitable for around three-quarters 75% of situations where memberships are required, including bodies, societies and clubs, but Squarespace are not listening and do not seem to grasp how important this is.
I recommend you (and others reading this!) log a feature request with Squarespace. You can reach out to them here. I also recommend ‘liking’ and ‘voting up’ the questions about this, to raise the profile of this limitation. Here are some similar threads about this: